Douglas Todd: The dangers of a ‘postnational’ Canada

Vancouver Sun03.11.2016

Justin Trudeau, now prime minister, celebrates Chinese New Year in Richmond’s Aberdeen Centre in 2014. When he says Canada is the world’s “first postnational state,” he probably means this is a place where respect for minorities trumps any one group’s way of doing things.

When the prime minister says Canada is the world’s “first postnational state,” I believe he’s saying this is a place where respect for minorities trumps any one group’s way of doing things.

‘‘There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,’’ Trudeau claimed after the October election. ‘‘There are shared values — openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice.”

The New York Times writer who obtained this quote said Trudeau’s belief Canada has no core identity is his “most radical” political position. It seems especially so combined with criticism Trudeau is a lightweight on national security and sovereignty.

Not too many Canadians, however, seem disturbed by Trudeau talking about us as a “postnational state.”

Maybe they just write it off as political bafflegab. But of all the countries in the world, Canada, with its high proportion of immigrants and official policy of multiculturalism, may also be one of the few places where politicians and academics treat virtually all forms of nationalism with deep suspicion.

Of course, no one defends nationalism in its rigid or extreme forms. Ultranationalism has been blamed for us-against-them belligerence throughout the 20th century, which led to terrible military aggressions out of Germany, Japan, the former Yugoslavia, China and many regions of Africa.

But would it be wise to let nationalism die?

What if our sense of a national identity actually was eradicated? What if borders were erased and the entire world became “transnational?”

We sometimes seem to be heading that way, with the rise of the European Union, the United Nations and especially transnational deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The aim of these transnational business agreements is to override the rules, customs and sovereignty of individual nations and allow the virtually unrestricted flow of global migrants and money.

Such transnational agreements benefit some, especially the “cosmopolitan” elites and worldwide corporations. But the results for others are often not pretty.

Indeed, a case can be made that the housing affordability crises in Metro Vancouver and Toronto is a result of a “postnational” mindset.

Canada’s politicians are failing to put serious effort into protecting residents of Vancouver or Toronto from transnational financial forces.

Before digging further into the influences behind our over-heated housing markets, however, I’ll make a case for healthy nationalism.

Avoid extremes

The first thing to keep in mind is to not judge nationalism by its extremes.

As G.K. Chesterton once said, condemning nationalism because it can lead to war is like condemning love because it can lead to murder.

In recent years many regions have developed generally positive forms of nationalism, Scotland, the Czech Republic, the U.S., Argentina, Japan, Sweden to name a few.

Healthy nationalism encourages diverse people to cooperate.

“Patriotism is what makes us behave unselfishly. It is why we pay taxes to support strangers, why we accept election results when we voted for the loser, why we obey laws with which we disagree,” writes Daniel Hannan, author of Inventing Freedom.

“A functioning state requires broad consensus on what constitutes the first-person plural. Take that sense away, you get Syria or Iraq or Ukraine or — well, pretty much any war zone you can name.”

Though Canada’s particular style of nationalism is fluid and not simple to define, it’s part of what makes the country attractive to immigrants, who often arrive from dysfunctional regions torn by corruption and cynicism about national officials.

Many immigrants seem to realize that it’s not normally nationalism that foments catastrophic division, it’s religion, race or tribalism.

In contrast, some of the world’s most economically successful and egalitarian countries have a sense of mutual trust and appreciation for good government that is in part based on the glue of nationalism.

People in proud Nordic countries, for instance, often decorate even their birthday cakes with their national flags. At the same time Nordic nations are generous to their disadvantaged and in distributing foreign aid.

Michael McDonald, former head of the University of B.C.’s Centre for Applied Ethics, thinks Trudeau’s belief that Canada is the world’s first “postnational state” emerges out of his concern that it’s dangerous to “affirm a dominant culture that suppresses and marginalizes those outside the mainstream.”

But even though the ethics professor believes it’s important to protect minorities, he isn’t prepared to overlook the value of nationalism.

McDonald believes being Canadian is like being a member of a community, or a big family.

“Some are born into the family and others are adopted. There is a shared family history — interpreted in diverse ways,” McDonald says.

“Not everyone is happy being in the family. Some think being a family member is important and others do not. But we are shaped by our families, and we shape ourselves within and sometimes against our families. So also with our country.”

Transnationalist dangers

Embracing McDonald’s view that Canada is a giant, unruly but somewhat bonded family, I’d suggest Trudeau contradicts himself, or is at least being naive, when he argues Canada is a postnational state.

On one hand Trudeau claims Canada has no “core identity.” On the other hand he says the Canadian identity is quite coherent — we all share the values of “openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice.”

Can it be both ways?

Most Canadians don’t think so. Regardless of what Trudeau told the New York Times, a recent Angus Reid Institute poll confirmed what many Canadians judge to be common sense: 75 per cent of residents believe there is a “unique Canadian culture.”

I wish some of that common sense about nationalism was being brought to the housing affordability crisis in Vancouver and Toronto.

While some of the strongest support for transnationalism comes from big business, we need to hear more from economists who stand up for healthy nationalism.

They include the famous Scottish economist Adam Smith, who is often cited as the father of capitalism. Smith believed free enterprise would work most effectively within the cultures of unified nations.

Healthy nationalism requires loyalty between citizens and leaders, says Geoffrey Taunton-Collins, who writes for www.adamsmith.org. A nation’s leaders are expected to protect their citizens from outside powers.

That is not what is happening in Vancouver and Toronto, where the forces of transnationalism have been allowed to run amok.

“The city has become a commodity,” former Vancouver city councillor Jonathan Baker recently lamented. It’s being increasingly occupied by transnational wealth.

Global capital is coming to Toronto and Vancouver because it seeks a haven that has no ethical, legal or physical boundaries, Eveline Xia and UBC planning department director Penny Gurstein wrote this month in The Vancouver Sun.

Xia and Gurstein say federal and B.C. politicians are not protecting citizens from transnational speculators. Unlike the officials who represent London, Hong Kong or Singapore, Xia and Gurstein say, Canadian politicians are failing to regulate residency requirements on home purchases or charge non-residents extra fees.

As a result many average Canadians who are desperate to make a home and livelihood in Metro Vancouver can’t come close to affording to live here.

It’s the kind of thing that can happen when too many politicians believe we’re living in the world’s first “postnational state.”

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Douglas Todd: The dangers of a ‘postnational’ Canada

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